FAT32 40GB Portable HD Didn't Work - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

Embalmer · 04-27-2009, 12:26 PM

So my Smartdisk FireLite 40GB Portable USB 2.0 Hard drive - formatted to FAT32 did not work in the Camaro.

It powered it up but it didn't work.

I thought perhaps it just had to load for a long time but then I noticed - when I add a bunch of songs to a thumb stick and pop it in - it will load the first song and then it comes up and says "Indexing..." so I see it's reading the songs.

When I pop the portable hard drive in it doesn't switch to the USB device automatically like the thumbstick and it doesn't do any type of indexing - sooo... pretty sure it doesn't work.

If I get my hands on some other types of portable hard drives, I'll try them out.

UCF w00t · 04-27-2009, 12:28 PM

Interesting. I'm assuming the drive is getting power and spinning up? How does the device show up in the device manager on your computer? USB Mass storage? I see that it can use an external power source if the bus doesn't supply enough power, have you tried this?

CamaroSkooter · 04-27-2009, 12:29 PM

Well that's a bummer! There's going to be a lot of bummed individuals if this holds true for all external HDD's :(

dodson914 · 04-27-2009, 12:30 PM

Do any external HD work on cars? I would not have thought it would.

Croathlete · 04-27-2009, 12:31 PM

Did you try NTFS?

Scott@Bjorn3D · 04-27-2009, 12:33 PM

Depend on how much power the USB drive is pulling. Some actually need to hook to 2 USB ports to get enough power to spin. That could be the issue.

Embalmer · 04-27-2009, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UCF w00t

Interesting. I'm assuming the drive is getting power and spinning up? How does the device show up in the device manager on your computer? USB Mass storage? I see that it can use an external power source if the bus doesn't supply enough power, have you tried this?

Under "My Computer" shows up as a "Local Disk" under "Type".

Under "Safely Remove Hardware" it shows up as "USB Mass Storage Device".

It is getting power and I can hear it cranking...but it's kind of like a stutter ... I just plugged it into my laptop and it's a full spin...not sure that it did that in the maro....

I have "not" tried an external power supply yet... I don't have a cord. I will try it if I can get a cord for it.

Embalmer · 04-27-2009, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Croathlete

Did you try NTFS?

No I didn't. I've heard most people have worse results with that though...

CamaroSkooter · 04-27-2009, 12:38 PM

And I believe once you format it to NTFS, you can't go back to FAT32...

Scott@Bjorn3D · 04-27-2009, 12:41 PM

Did the USB cable that came with it have a Y splitter with 2 usb connectors? If it did one is power only. You could test this theory by plugging the power only connector into the USB on the notebook and the other into the cars USB and see if it works.

Embalmer · 04-27-2009, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott@Bjorn3D

Did the USB cable that came with it have a Y splitter with 2 usb connectors? If it did one is power only. You could test this theory by plugging the power only connector into the USB on the notebook and the other into the cars USB and see if it works.

It did not. It actually has a jack for power and a switch to tell it which power source to use - external or USB.

I just need to find a jack that fits...can prolly put one together pretty easy.

CamaroSkooter · 04-27-2009, 01:37 PM

The device didn't come with a power supply in the box? Or did it only come with the 120V wall outlet power supply?

Embalmer · 04-27-2009, 01:43 PM

It was a couple of years ago when I bought it... honestly I don't think it came with a power cord at all! I think it just had the USB cable with it.

Going to make one though.....

CamaroSkooter · 04-27-2009, 01:47 PM

Hmm, I hope you get the voltage/amperage correct, cause I've fried electronics before because I didn't get the right type of power supply.

Good luck

Embalmer · 04-27-2009, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CamaroSkooter

Hmm, I hope you get the voltage/amperage correct, cause I've fried electronics before because I didn't get the right type of power supply.

Good luck

5V. Not sure what the current is...but oh well

Either way, I will report my success or failure.

levi1922 · 04-27-2009, 03:14 PM

i think it would be over all easier to get a flash drive,
and you can get a 8 gig that will hold plenty of songs for not that much money.

MTron · 04-27-2009, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Embalmer

5V. Not sure what the current is...but oh well

Either way, I will report my success or failure.

i have never seen a laptop hd that draws more then 10 watts, so i think if you can supply at least 2 amps at 5 volts u should be good to go!

As for why this is happening in the first place....well, power would be my first idea...after that...could be an incompatibility with the ATA chipset in the external...try another drive perhaps??? As well, maybe you should try changing the allocation unit size when formatting, try using all default setting when u format it, including the allocation size, if that doesnt work try 4096 bytes, which is a common size (dunno if its the default size tho...might be the same! lol)

also, try putting the music into a directory instead of just in the root of the drive, ie put all the music in a folder called music for ex e:\\Music\all ur stuff

SemperFi · 04-27-2009, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by levi1922

i think it would be over all easier to get a flash drive,
and you can get a 8 gig that will hold plenty of songs for not that much money.

Sandisk Cruzer - 16 gb for under 30 with free shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer...MFVS4E8H3FJMMY

knock it outta the park with this sweet wallet sized 320gb Western Digital HDD. Its small and brand new, takes less power than the clunky old disks $70

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita...0883879&sr=1-1

UCF w00t · 04-27-2009, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SemperFi

knock it outta the park with this sweet wallet sized 320gb Western Digital HDD. Its small and brand new, takes less power than the clunky old disks $70

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita...0883879&sr=1-1

That's what he's trying (different brand/size but same idea). And it's not working.

cyberbro · 04-27-2009, 09:13 PM

I have a radical idea? See what the owners Manual says!

I'm sure it will have a list of what will work and will not work in the USB?

franknbeans · 04-27-2009, 09:35 PM

owners manual. . . hell that's the same as asking a guy to read the book for the xbox game he just bought or to read the directions before putting that desk together.

trudawg660 · 04-27-2009, 09:37 PM

i don't own that much music i think its 36GB am just going to buy a 64GB flash drive

etrigan · 05-01-2009, 11:05 PM

Any new news? I've actually bought a WD 320GB drive just for the car. Now, I may have to try something different.

As a guess, I would stick to FAT32 and avoid NTFS. One thing that you might need to do is do multipule partitions and drop no more than 10,000 songs on each partition.

levi1922 · 05-01-2009, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by franknbeans

owners manual. . . hell that's the same as asking a guy to read the book for the xbox game he just bought or to read the directions before putting that desk together.

haha, thats is one of the things i am looking forward to! i always read them!

Embalmer · 05-06-2009, 09:33 PM

Didn't get the external power supply hooked up yet... will try to do that soon.

My Sandisk 16gb thumbstick/flash drive works great though..... Just FYI.

04-27-2009, 12:26 PM	#1
Embalmer 2G1FT1EWXA9103351 Drives: 2SS RS, SIM, 6pd, 20"Alum Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Canton, Michigan Posts: 608 View My Garage	FAT32 40GB Portable HD Didn't Work So my Smartdisk FireLite 40GB Portable USB 2.0 Hard drive - formatted to FAT32 did not work in the Camaro. It powered it up but it didn't work. I thought perhaps it just had to load for a long time but then I noticed - when I add a bunch of songs to a thumb stick and pop it in - it will load the first song and then it comes up and says "Indexing..." so I see it's reading the songs. When I pop the portable hard drive in it doesn't switch to the USB device automatically like the thumbstick and it doesn't do any type of indexing - sooo... pretty sure it doesn't work. If I get my hands on some other types of portable hard drives, I'll try them out.

04-27-2009, 12:31 PM	#5
Croathlete Danny Drives: 2010 Camaro 2SS/RS Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: NYC Posts: 1,658	Did you try NTFS? __________________ 2SS/RS CGM with black rally stripes DON_RAFA describing my Noweeds cutouts - "Very Strong. When I couldn't see you I still heard you. Sounds like your car is pissed at the world." Please help me fight back by supporting me in the 2010 American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Every little bit helps. Click here for more information. Thank you to those that have donated!

04-27-2009, 12:33 PM	#6
Scott@Bjorn3D Drives: Kami, 2013 2SS LS3 Luvin Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Eufaula, Alabama Posts: 5,386	Depend on how much power the USB drive is pulling. Some actually need to hook to 2 USB ports to get enough power to spin. That could be the issue. __________________

04-27-2009, 12:41 PM	#10
Scott@Bjorn3D Drives: Kami, 2013 2SS LS3 Luvin Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Eufaula, Alabama Posts: 5,386	Did the USB cable that came with it have a Y splitter with 2 usb connectors? If it did one is power only. You could test this theory by plugging the power only connector into the USB on the notebook and the other into the cars USB and see if it works. __________________

04-27-2009, 03:14 PM	#16
levi1922 Drives: 2LT RS CGM Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 1,379	i think it would be over all easier to get a flash drive, and you can get a 8 gig that will hold plenty of songs for not that much money. __________________

04-27-2009, 12:28 PM	#2
UCF w00t Geek Drives: IOM 2010 Camaro 2SS Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Orlando Posts: 4,456	Interesting. I'm assuming the drive is getting power and spinning up? How does the device show up in the device manager on your computer? USB Mass storage? I see that it can use an external power source if the bus doesn't supply enough power, have you tried this?

04-27-2009, 12:29 PM	#3
CamaroSkooter Retarded One-Legged Owl Drives: 2010 Black Camaro 2SS Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 8,706	Well that's a bummer! There's going to be a lot of bummed individuals if this holds true for all external HDD's :(

04-27-2009, 12:30 PM	#4
dodson914 Drives: 2008 2500 HD; 2008 G8 GT #199 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 239	Do any external HD work on cars? I would not have thought it would.

04-27-2009, 12:38 PM	#9
CamaroSkooter Retarded One-Legged Owl Drives: 2010 Black Camaro 2SS Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 8,706	And I believe once you format it to NTFS, you can't go back to FAT32...

04-27-2009, 01:37 PM	#12
CamaroSkooter Retarded One-Legged Owl Drives: 2010 Black Camaro 2SS Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 8,706	The device didn't come with a power supply in the box? Or did it only come with the 120V wall outlet power supply?

04-27-2009, 01:43 PM	#13
Embalmer 2G1FT1EWXA9103351 Drives: 2SS RS, SIM, 6pd, 20"Alum Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Canton, Michigan Posts: 608 View My Garage	It was a couple of years ago when I bought it... honestly I don't think it came with a power cord at all! I think it just had the USB cable with it. Going to make one though.....

04-27-2009, 01:47 PM	#14
CamaroSkooter Retarded One-Legged Owl Drives: 2010 Black Camaro 2SS Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 8,706	Hmm, I hope you get the voltage/amperage correct, cause I've fried electronics before because I didn't get the right type of power supply. Good luck

04-27-2009, 09:13 PM	#20
cyberbro Drives: Soon to be 2010 Camaro Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Long Island, New York Posts: 901	I have a radical idea? See what the owners Manual says! I'm sure it will have a list of what will work and will not work in the USB? __________________ Camaro Dream on hold for now. But when I go for it I will only buy from BeckyD@RodgersChevrolet.

04-27-2009, 09:35 PM	#21
franknbeans Whipped Drives: 2010 CAMARO Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Pittsburgh-ish - PA Posts: 3,695 View My Garage	owners manual. . . hell that's the same as asking a guy to read the book for the xbox game he just bought or to read the directions before putting that desk together. __________________ Magnaflow Cat back / ROTO-FAB Intake / Whipple Kit / RDP Tune. 580hp - 650Tq

04-27-2009, 09:37 PM	#22
trudawg660 Drives: 2006 Dodge Charger / 2SS IOM Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1,644	i don't own that much music i think its 36GB am just going to buy a 64GB flash drive

05-01-2009, 11:05 PM	#23
etrigan Drives: 2010 2SS/RS Black Camaro Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Dallas Posts: 306	Any new news? I've actually bought a WD 320GB drive just for the car. Now, I may have to try something different. As a guess, I would stick to FAT32 and avoid NTFS. One thing that you might need to do is do multipule partitions and drop no more than 10,000 songs on each partition. __________________ "No matter where you go, there you are." -B.B. VIN #2G1FT1EW6A9106795 1100, Preliminary order accepted:10/13/08 6000, Del. to me:5/20/09

05-06-2009, 09:33 PM	#25
Embalmer 2G1FT1EWXA9103351 Drives: 2SS RS, SIM, 6pd, 20"Alum Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Canton, Michigan Posts: 608 View My Garage	Didn't get the external power supply hooked up yet... will try to do that soon. My Sandisk 16gb thumbstick/flash drive works great though..... Just FYI.

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